The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-05-04
THE LADIES.
Two Columns of Reading Pre-
pared Especially for Our
Feminine T. eaders.
ACCOMPLISHED MRS. WHITNEY.
Women's Work, Women's Wrongs, and
Women's Rights Something Anent
the Fashions.
wOmen's Wrongs.

never monthly journal, not TO mention a
modern day book, that you are not treated
to dissertation, more or less mild, on
Awomau's work"
, All that women are now allowed to exist
for is TO work TO agitate, TO be ratified
around in the dice-box of social progress.
- Her worth is punctiliously computed and
her right 10 be around measured by her
capabilIty for work, and her versatility in
1t. In our grandmothers days, to be sure,
a girl was not worth much If she could not
work her samples and make good butter.
The dear old things, then giddy young
things, framed their bits of embroidery,
suspended them on tho wall over spindle
legged chairs or tables with brass, lion
clawed feet, folded their pretty hands,
sparkling with old-fashioned rings, over
their starched bodices, and complacently
awaited an appreciative sutton who was to
carry them off, where their ecstatic bliss
fulness would consist in making the afore-
mentioned good butter.
The ethical principle is the same to-day,
but the field has been wldened, and the du-
ties more onerous. III woman does not
wish to sink into utter oblivion, she must
do something and be somebody in the great
rushing outside world.
OF course, if, as We contend, this is
misfortune, it is all her own fault, all her
have been crying for their rights"
Her rights to what2
Her right to work, to toll, to assume re-
sponsibility, to take care Of herself, to
worry and plan for others; in other words,
her right TO have good hard time of it.
She has been wanting, in a sadly illogical
fashion. to be the equal of her brothers,
while all the time, if she had only kept
quiet, never told them differently, nobody
would ever have suspicioned anything but
the fact that she is away above them.
However, she was sure she was entangled
in a restraining web of domesticty, and
never rested until the revolution was at
least commenced. Equal work, equal
wages, she must have, and she may now
have the liberty of serving the selfish pub
lie instead of the inmates of her home.
The world of to-day is as much the
woman's oyster as the mans, and her wit,
her skill, her finesse, her audacity, and her
adaptability, are assuredly acknowledged.
She completes with men In every known
industry; she may prescribe pills and plas
tiers; she may teach theology and philoso
ply, and she may settle disputes in the TO-
runs of Justice. The world of work is at
her feet. She certainly attained what she
cried for.
One man says "a characteristic feature
of the progress of the century is the en-
largement of spheres of usefulness for
women. A multiplicity of feminine occu-
pations renders independence a delightful
possibility for ALL" Another one: This is
a living, breathing, lcorking world, and
woman has made up her mind to do her
part in 1t. Within the next generation the
great body of women will be pursuing oc-
equations side by side with the great body
of men. 1t is only the few, as yet, who
labor; then it will be the great majority"
The women, in their blind, go-ahead way,
have brought about in men this lack of rec
ignition to the claims that exist in their
homes.
These men may hardly realize it. but
their children are brought into the world
and too often taught with their first lisp to
be independent, which means one less for
the father to care for, and too often one
less to care for the father.
Their wives are allowed to add some
thing to the income, which means the loss
of many domestic pleasures none but an
exclusive homekeeper can supply.
The wives do this with the utmost good
faith, with an unselhshness, often, that is
thoroughly womanly, yet it is the greatest
mistake a young woman can possibly
make.
Men are entirely the creatures of habit,
and once they learn TO rely upon a certain
amount of help coming from that source,
they never cease to expect it, and sick or
well, tired or not, old or young, they will
fail to see any reason why it should not
continue as it was begun.
II requires some moral courage to be so
fashioned as to believe that if men
realized their privileges, there would be
but few women working o-day outside of
sheltered homes.
But perhaps We had better stop or we
shall say something we will be sorry for;
but we can not but long for the old days
when Sappho and Hypatia were instances
of womans enterprise, that their unhappy
fates might serve as warnings rather than
models to initiate.